Welcome to the AC Tropical Fish aquarium forum. Our aquarium forum is the place to discuss any aquarium related issue in a friendly environment. Our aquarium forum welcomes aquarists of all levels from beginners to experts. Please ask a question in the how to section of our forum or read the FAQ section if you have any questions. register to and become a part of our friendly aquarium forum community today.

snails for days and days... >.<

0

in january i bought some anacharis from a pet store with no fish or snails in the tank thinking it would be safe.
i brought the plants home and rinsed and rinsed finding a few snails but getting rid of them. a few weeks later i saw one on the glass. the next day i saw one again but it was much bigger. Hubby and I came to the conclusion that I have more than one snail... oh my gosh you have no idea.

I do a 50-65% wc twice a week. In that time i remove at least 10 baby snails. (i forgot to mention... i have both pond snails and ramshorn snails lol go big or go home right?) during the week if i see a snail i remove it. I would say i get 5 or 6 in between my water changes. Suddenly i have a few nickel size snails that aren't afraid to be seen. where did these beasts come from??? The large ones are ramshorn so I did some reading and figured I would keep them. It's harder to dispose of something when you can see its mouth on the glass and it doesn't look so much like a pebble.. They float on the top of the water and slurp the glass and I have yet to see any babies from them. The pond snail population is an unending wave of baby snails. i have NEVER seen one larger than a pencil eraser. I feel like there is a general pond snail in my tank about to wage war on all that I hold dear, sending his millions of minions out into the light to destroy everything. dramatic i know but i actually have been having dreams about them... maybe because I read when im not working and snails have been on my brain... so I feel like maybe I need to make a better effort to do something about these little guys before things get crazy and i am never able to get control. (i see some tanks at my LFS just snailed out. i mean TONS... i dont think that would make me happy lol)

I have been reading about baiting with lettuce. I think I am ready to try this. I know it says to rinse the lettuce well but do i dip it in dechlorinator after rinsing before i put it in my tank? I don't want to use chemicals or buy a snail eating fish. I have a freshwater community that is stocked and i don't want to overcrowd. I was going to get assassin snails but... i could almost buy a new tank with the price of a handful and shipping, there is someone on craigslist with them in anchorage BUT.... Who knows the condition of their tank and i have baby pandas in quarantine right now. (for at least another week) At this point I'm debating keeping even the ramshorn. I do enjoy watching snails but I think maybe an apple? (I heard they reproduce slower) I have been trying not to over feed so I'm not adding to the overpopulation with an abundance of nutrients but.. I have corys, plecos, gouramis, and some tetra varieties so I'm feeding some api flakes with garlic, spectrum thera a, and i rotate shrimp pellets, bloodworms and api bottom feeder pellets, I also drop in an algae wafer before I turn the lights out at night. so although its small portions of food.. i'm sure theres enough to make some babies.

So... do i wash the lettuce in tap water or water i dechlorinate? Just float it in the water? Should i get rid of the ramshorn and go with an apple or stick to the ramshorns?

I think I remember reading that those were semi aggressive? My tank is community and I already have bottom feeding panda corys and clown plecos. although the clown plecos seem to never leave their driftwood so i'm not sure how much bottom feeding they're doing. lol

I have assassin snails in my tank ... within weeks of their arrival, my snail population was minimal ... These days I see the occasional TINY pest snail but they don't last long. I moved some plants into my betta tank recently an within 2 weeks EXPLOSION of snails everywhere! So clearly the main tank snails are still a nuisance ... but now they're a nuisance on the run.

If they were not pond snails (since they are known to eat plants) I'd say embrace them. A good friend has a 300 gallon tank and I'm not kidding when I say his substrate is made up of MTSs and Mystery snails. I've never seen anything like it. I don't even know if he actually has gravel under all of them. It does look rather impressive and my goodness do they keep his tank clean.
With that being said, it doesn't really matter what you are feeding your fish. The snails will breed and you won't control their population through controlling your fish food. The snails will just turn on your plants or whatever else they can find.

I feed my snails lettuce and I just wash a piece and toss it in. I find it easier to firmly stick to a fork and place the fork at the bottom. It is easier for them to get to than just letting it float. If that doesn't seem to really help, you should look into those Assassin snails. You shouldn't need many to control your population and know that the assassins will breed after a while and give you more (no where near as fast as the pond snails). Though do note that once you go the assassin route no snail is safe. So your Rams horns are going to go bye bye and any apple snail you might think about getting won't make it either.

The big ones are probably just small ones grown up.
If I remember correctly your tank has little panda cories in it. I really wouldn't recommend botiine loaches in the same tank.

I highly respect everyone's experiences, but I must mention that I have a contrasting one, namely that snails can be eradicated by controlled feeding. In my early days I overfed and ramshorns overran the tank. Once I learned how to feed properly the bladder and pond snails starved in a few weeks and now I actually have to look if I want to find any remaining ramshorns.